Clear Lake Iaido

It started about the middle of October with an e-mail forwarded by Raymond Williams, my Aikido sensei, asking if he could do a demonstration of Aikido at University of Houston at Clear Lake (UHCL) World Unity Day event on Wednesday, October 30. Raymond doesn't do public demonstrations, but he knew we would. I contacted the e-mailer, offering to do an Iaido demonstration and provided a link to our website. He wrote back to say that his wife, who was organizing the event would be in contact to schedule our demonstration. A week later she contacted me to ask about the demonstration. In the course of the conversation I told her a bit about what we do ("Iaido is a martial art...it is the art of drawing and cutting with the Japanese sword, etc., etc.). A little further on in the conversation, it must have dawned on her that we would be swinging swords during our demonstration, because she then asked in a worried tone if we could do the demo without swords. "Not really." I replied. She explained that at last year's festival one of the international student tables had a static exhibit of cultural items that included a knife, and apparently campus security got their panties in a twist over it, even though it was in a scabbard, and confiscated it. I quickly explained that the swords we used were unedged and made of aluminum, and that they only resemble the real thing. She asked if we had wooden swords, and if those were sharp. "No, they're not sharp," I said, "but that's not what we normally use in class." After more talking and convincing on my part, she decided to ask campus security for their OK, and agreed to get back with me on their decision by tomorrow (it was now the Thursday before the event). Friday came and went as did Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I had figured by this point that she had been turned down. Late Tuesday night when I got home from work, there was an e-mail from Denise Shipley, the coordinator of the International Student Office. Apparently my earlier contact was out of town due to a death in the family, and could we still do the demo? I e-mailed her back, and got a phone call later that night. We agreed upon a time. She said that security said that they thought it would be OK, but she asked if we could bring wooden swords just in case. I said OK, and immediately called Joe to see if he were available tomorrow from 11:45 to noon. Fortunately he was, and I gave him directions.

The next day we met at the appointed building, and ran into Denise who couldn't thank us enough for coming out and demonstrating at the last minute. We got changed, and she showed us the stage which was the landing of a pair of stairs that connected the first and second floors of the atrium area in which the various international student organizations had set up tables. The stairways were roped off at the top, but not the bottom. When we emerged fully dressed, the keynote speaker had just started his address. We would be right after. When he was done they took us up, and introduced us, then gave me the mike so I could tell them a little bit about what we were about to do. I kept it very brief, but mentioning that "the emphasis is on control and precision of the sword, but the goal is the control and precision of the mind of the practitioner, not the death of another," to allay any fears that might lurk in the minds of those watching. The demo we did for the was pretty standard, with selections from Seiza, Batto Ho, and Tatehiza, bounded at both ends with Reishiki. We had our audience's rapt attention from the moment we started until we were done. There was a nervous moment when someone, who didn't realize the stairs were now a stage, climbed up to suddenly find us there on the landing. Fortunately she stopped, and went back down. After we were done they presented us with a framed certificate of appreciation, which we were not expecting. Through out all of this campus security was no where to be seen.

Joe had to go right back to work, but I was hungry and decided to hang out a while to snack at the students booths, many of which offered food & drink samples as well as cultural displays. While grazing my way down one row of tables, a reporter from the school newspaper came up and took my picture, and asked me questions about our demo. Apparently she didn't know what "martial art" meant, because she kept wanting to know when we usually did our 'dance', what was the meaning of our 'performance', and "What does the sword represent?" (I'm really not making this up). I finally told her the historical background of Iaido,-- how old it was, why it came about, who did it, etc. She quietly scribbled a bunch of notes, thanked me, and left. This was definitely one of the weirder conversations I've had.

Weeks later I e-mailed Denise to ask if there were any pictures or articles about our demo in the school paper. The next week she sent a link with a note apologizing that we had not been mentioned at all. Nevertheless we had one student approach us about taking lessons.

It was an interesting experience, and I think that we would do it again next year if they asked us.

© 2003       Last Updated: 2003.07.22       Credits